Mailboxes have been around for many years, and come in many sizes and shapes. The most popular mailboxes have an elongated compartment such as a rectangular housing with a flat roof or curved roof, and an access door that swings open based on a hinge mechanism the attaches the door to the lower front edge of the mailbox. However, mailbox doors tend to open much further than is needed. A typical mailbox door swings freely up to approximately 180 to approximately 270 degrees or more from a vertical upright closed position. The loosely swinging door has resulted in many problems.
For example, a mailbox door that hangs down is more prone to be twisted and bent overtime rendering the door useless from closing the mailbox. A downwardly hanging door can also break off from the mailbox leaving the interior of the mailbox continuously open. A constantly open mailbox can allow for any mail type contents inside to become damaged by being exposed to weather elements, and/or allow for the mailbox contents to become dislodged and lost, and even stolen overtime.
Additionally, a downwardly hanging bent and/or twisted mailbox door or portions of a door that remain can also be a snag hazard to others such as a mailman.
Still furthermore, most mailboxes being metal are prone to additional problems. These mailbox doors typically swing open so that metal eventually impacts metal that can cause damage to either or both the door, the handle, hinges, floor, other components and even the mailbox itself overtime. Metal hitting metal has also been known to cause objectionable loud impact noises that are created when a mailbox door accelerates in a free fall to a dead impact stop.
The constant banging between components can stress mailbox door hinges, other rotating points, welds and other assembly components causing parts to warp and/or loosen and/or fall off and/or become damaged overtime reducing the life of the mailbox.
The inventor is not aware of apparatus, devices and methods that overcome all the problems listed above. Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.